Much has been said and written about the (then) Marin Theatre Company’s 2017 production of Thomas Bradshaw’s Thomas and Sally. Bradshaw’s historical fiction used a conversation between college students as the framing device to explore the possible relationship between Founding Father Thomas Jefferson and his slave, Sally Hemings.
To say the Jasson Minadakis-directed production was divisive would be a bit of an understatement.
Now the renamed Marin Theatre, under artistic director Lance Gardner, revisits the subject with their production of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sally & Tom. Whether it’s canny marketing, a thumb in the eye of a segment of the theater community or a genuine attempt to address the still-existing wounds left by the prior production I’ll leave for others to debate. The show runs in Mill Valley through Nov. 23.
Parks’ framing device, though I think it’s much more than that, is a theater company mounting an original play about Hemings and Jefferson. Company leaders and personal partners Mike (Adam KuveNiemann) and Luce (Emily Newsome) think they finally have a play that people will actually come to see and a financial backer for it if they’re willing to make a few changes.
This play is titled The Pursuit of Happiness, and it tells its version of the Hemings and Jefferson story. Mike (KuveNeimann) plays Jefferson and directs; Luce (Newsome) plays Hemings and is the playwright. That dynamic is not coincidental. The unseen backer wants a key speech by Hemings’ brother James dropped, much to the consternation of Kwame (Titus VanHook), the Hollywood actor cast in the role.
The relationship between money and art is the real relationship being examined here, and the compromises or sacrifices made (or not made) by one in pursuit of the other provides the drama. That drama is laced with a lot of comedy, as the company members do whatever it takes to get the show up and running. Parks perfectly captures the theater environment, a place where everyone wears three-or-more hats and relationships begin and end.
Gardner has a great cast at work here, each doing double duty as the actors and the roles they play in the play-within-the-play. Newsome and KuveNiemann are outstanding in the lead roles, and they get excellent support from the entire cast.
The design work is superb, and the transitions from show to “show” are really well handled. The show is long (two and a half hours), but it flows.
History aside, Sally & Tom merits a view on its own terms. ‘Sally & Tom’ runs through Nov. 23 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Weds–Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 2pm. $15-$79. 415.388.5208. marintheatre.org.
